Dacia Bigster lives up to its name

The name of the new Dacia Bigster doesn’t leave much room for ambiguity, as it is indeed the largest car from the value-led brand yet. But it’s big news for a number of other reasons too, as it represents a tentative move upmarket for the company, targeting buyers who care about niceties such as an electric-opening tailgate, a panoramic glass roof and classy paint colours, as much as they do about getting good value for their hard-earned euros. It builds upon the considerable success of the Dacia Duster, while tasked with stealing customers away from brands Dacia would never have been mentioned alongside. As its name suggests, it has a big job to do.

Exterior design and image

It gets off to a good start with chunky off-road styling. The Bigster’s design is undeniably related to that of the Dacia Duster, but it looks grander, befitting its positioning in the lineup, and it is of course a larger car. Notably high ground clearance sets the tone and alongside typical Dacia design clues – such as the castellated bonnet sculpting and Y-shaped LED lights – are other features that give the Bigster its own personality. Check out the muscular wheelarches, for example, and the option to upgrade to a set of swish 19-inch alloy wheels. And yet, for all its grandiosity, the Bigster has been designed to tread carefully on the environment. Dacia eschews the use of chrome completely and the car makes use of the firm’s own ‘Starkle’, a hardwearing plastic made partially from recycled materials that gives components a unique surface appearance, which won’t change no matter how much you scuff it.

Interior and practicality

The cabin is full of practical features too, as is Dacia’s way, and the pragmatic style is in keeping with the rest of the range, but anyone stepping into the Bigster from the Duster will immediately appreciate the difference. Not only is the Bigster far larger inside – no matter which of the five seats you’re in – but Dacia has enhanced the ambience with comfortable seating, lots of adjustment in the driving position and, yes, that aforementioned glass roof bathing the interior with natural light.

Living up to the car’s name, the boot is huge, holding over 600 litres under its retractable cover, while rear seating is particularly spacious, with lots of versatility thanks to a three-section, split-fold seatback and generously proportioned storage cubbies. That’s not to mention Dacia’s proprietary ‘YouClip’ system allowing owners to attach all manner of accessories to various points dotted around the car. In theory, you could 3D-print your own.

In terms of technology, there’s digital instrumentation and a modest 10.1-inch touchscreen for the infotainment. Both are easy to read and find your way around, with smartphone mirroring integrated, too. We’re pleased to see Dacia sticking with physical buttons for the heating and ventilation system, however, as they’re far safer to use driving and help you stay focused on the road when you just want to crank the air conditioning up.

On the road

The Bigster delivers enough performance to suit its family-oriented remit, favouring steady progress over outright acceleration. There are turbocharged petrol engines available paired with front- or all-wheel drive, though the most powerful of them puts out just 140hp. Not a lot, but the Bigster is not a particularly heavy car, so it’s no slouch, either.

The most impressive powertrain is the hybrid, called the HEV 155. As you’d expect, it makes up to 155hp and it’s an automatic. This is only available with front-wheel drive for now, so those needing four-wheel drive will have to stick to purely petrol power. Nonetheless, the stats reveal diesel-like efficiency with incredibly low emissions and fuel consumption. Just as well given the lack of a diesel engine in the range. On that note, the hybrid only tows up to 1,000kg, while the petrol models can manage 1,500kg.

Despite the lack of a diesel, the hybrid is quite suited to long journeys and long stints at the wheel thanks to a soft and comfortable suspension setup. It’s refined for the most part as well, so long as you don’t go pushing the engine for every one of its horses – it can get raucous if you do that. In general, it feels competent, safe, and stable in all conditions, which is all most people want and need from an SUV such as this.

Pricing

If Dacia’s rivals have been reading this review up to here, they may not be overly concerned, and conclude while the Bigster is a good car and yet another competitor to think about, it’s not dramatically better than the hordes of other mid-sized SUVs on the market in any one area. Except it is.

The Bigster is priced from just €29,990, in a sector where most cars are over €40,000. All versions of the Bigster come in under that figure so expect to see plenty of high-spec ones on Irish roads.

Dacia offers buyers ‘Essential’, ‘Expression’, ‘Journey’, and ‘Extreme’ trim levels to choose from, but even the basic models come with more than, well, the basics. The entry-level 4×4 version is just €34,690, while the most affordable hybrid costs only €35,140.

In truth, we suspect it will take existing buyers in this part of the market a while to cotton on to the charms of the Bigster as it’s a totally new nameplate from a carmaker that hasn’t previously had an offering to consider. However, it’s likely to net a whole swathe of customers that might previously only have afforded smaller alternatives from other brands. And for them, big could certainly be better.